


While You've Been Gone

by SherlockMalfoy



Series: Grid Links [4]
Category: Power Rangers
Genre: Alternate Power Rangers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Inner Demons, Multiverse, Parallel Universes, Post-Megaforce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-02 06:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14539170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockMalfoy/pseuds/SherlockMalfoy
Summary: When Tommy and Kimberly disappeared, Jason had every Ranger searching the planet and every pocket dimension conceivable to find them. When hope seemed lost, Billy stumbled upon an anomaly in the Grid which sent out faint traces of a tracking signal from the GPS chip Hayley had hidden in her best friend's wedding band. After a second energy surge sweeps the Grid, the Black Dino Ranger is found in the forest near Reefside.But it wasn't Dr. Tommy Oliver they found beneath the helmet.(A Grid Links side-story running parallel toA Different Shade of Green)





	1. Chapter 1

Jason wasn't too worried when Tommy didn't make it home that night. Annoyed that he didn't call, but if he'd had a few drinks with dinner at Rocky and Adam's, it was understandable that he probably didn't want to drive home in the dark.

When he woke the next morning to find the other side of the bed still empty and the sun having been up for at least an hour already, he called his husband's cell. It went straight to voicemail. So, Jason left a message. This, too, wasn't uncommon. Tommy often had to be reminded to put his phone on the charger.

By noon when there was still no sign of his husband, he tried the communicator and received no response. He tried again fifteen minutes later.

Still... nothing.

By 1pm he had called Rocky and Adam, only to be told that he never showed up. Rocky had assumed Tommy just forgot and went on home. Just as well... Adam had one hell of a headache all day and had been relieved when they realized their friend wasn't coming to visit after all.

By three Jason learned that Kimberly never made it back to Miami.

By nightfall every Ranger base across the globe was notified of Tommy and Kim's disappearance.

The Lair became home to three techs, two pacing T-Rexes, and a frenzied robot.

It took a week straight of combing through airport security footage and following dead ends before the search expanded outward from Earth, checking in with all known space based Ranger teams and allies on other worlds. With the help of the Liarians and Mystic Mother they were able to check every known pocket dimension, and discover a few more.

But still... there was no sign of Tommy or Kimberly.

At the start of three weeks, things seemed pretty bleak.

Until...

Hayley knocked on the bedroom door, but received no response. She knocked again and tried the knob. Finding it unlocked she opened the door just a little. It was dark inside. "Jason?" she asked into the darkness. "Jason, it's Hayley. I need you to come downstairs."

"I can't," came the low rumble of a voice from the dark. "I can't stomach another disappointment. Not today."

She sighed and considered what she should do next. If it were Tommy she'd throw on the light, throw him some clean pants, and tell him to take a shower. Jason on the other hand... needed a more delicate hand. Especially right now. "We think we found something."

She heard a growl before she saw two points of red in the dark. Blinking at her. "I said-"

"I know what you said. And I know you're losing control but you need to find something to cling to. We found a faint trace from the tracker in his wedding ring."

Jason was silent, staring at the woman framed in the light from the hallway. She squared her shoulders. "When you're ready," she said. "Come down to the Lair. You need to see this."

**o0o**

Hayley waited in the Lair with two Blue Rangers. A soft, but steady 'ping' coming from one of the machines hooked up to the central computer bank. Boxes of pizza and cartons of Chinese take-away were scattered around haphazardly. Empty and waiting to be picked up and carted off.

Having nothing better to do while they waited for Jason to eventually join them she and one of the Blues went around with trash bags, picking up the small stuff and setting the larger items - namely pizza boxes - aside for recycling.

"Maybe one of us should go back up and check on him again."

"Not advisable," Hayley said quickly. "He had those freaky red eyes again," she said, wiggling her fingers in front of her eyes, as she often did over the last three weeks when Jason would nearly blow his top in frustration as another lead turned cold.

"Without Tommy here to act as a buffer between Jason and the rest of the world, I fear it is only a matter of time before he loses his self control completely and enters into a period of irrational and unstoppable meltdown. Jason's temper has been an issue in the past but he had always been able to assert remarkable self-discipline and restraint. Something that, I'm afraid to admit, is lacking of late."

"Christmas calls it a _Maligorian Rage_. Named after the monster that left me with this... problem."

Justin nearly dropped his trash-bag when he looked up to see the man's eyes still simmering red. "You've got a bit of..."

Jason closed his eyes and drew a deep breath at the bottom of the steps leading into the house. When he opened them again, he glanced at Justin. "Any better?"

"Not really."

"I'll go out in the woods later. Throw some rocks, hit a tree or something," he said as he crossed the Lair, quickly spotting Billy at the console. "So, Hayley says you've got something. It better be good."

Billy nodded, turning back to the computers. He input a few commands and brought up three monitors worth of information. One showed the airport security footage from the terminal the morning Tommy and Kim had disappeared. It was paused. Another displayed something unfamiliar. It was then Jason noticed a new device patched into the system. "Lacking any new leads and with the search diverting much of my time away from my research I decided to at least review data collected for my most recent project in collaboration with the scientists of KO-35 in the area of potential applications for Grid energy in the revitalization of worlds affected by the migration of Marvo's fleet and the Armada."

"Okay," Jason said impatiently, leaning in and resting a hand on the back of Billy's chair. "What's this got to do with my missing husband and our sister in Pink?"

Billy schooled his features so that he would not show his unease at the man's rather intense presence so close to his person. He put out another set of commands and the footage and second screen began to play out. "Watch this data stream first. Both screens will play a loop."

"What am I looking for?"

"There!" Billy exclaimed. "Wait for it again. It only lasts a few seconds. Then it's gone without a trace."

Jason watched the monitor again. Waiting. The numbers and symbols seemed to be nothing but nonsense to him until.... He waited for a third time to be sure. The numbers went from very small to suddenly very large for just a few seconds.

"Now, step back and watch them both," Billy said rolling the chair to the side a little as Jason looked from one screen to the other, then took a few steps back.

"Son of a bitch."

"There was a surge of energy in the Grid as Tommy and Kimberly disappeared."

"Whoever did this has access to the Morphing Grid?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"We thought so, too. So we reached out to everyone we could. No one with direct access has the capability to completely remove people from existence. At first we thought maybe a teleport gone wrong," Hayley said, drawing his attention.

"Or an anomaly in the Grid. You know the Power loves our Tommy almost more than you do," Justin added. "As a last resort I called up the guys in Silver Hills. After getting in touch with Jen the only thing they can tell us is that Tommy and Kim aren't dead. And it's a mystery even in the year 3000 what happened to them. So it looks like we'll at least get them home."

"We just don't know how or when," Jason said softly, then he straightened himself up an gave a curt nod. "But... there's hope. And when there's still hope, there's still something worth fighting for. Is this everything or..."

Billy shook his head and turned his attention to the third monitor. Bobbing in the center was what appeared to be a short circuited... Jason couldn't be sure. "This is what the Grid looks like through the Overdrive access gateway. It's different for each team but after consulting the one Tommy hid under Hayley's cafe, I can confirm that this particular anomaly exists in both and it is reasonable to assume it can also be located through the other access gateways as well."

"What is it?"

"We don't know," Billy admitted. "But when I showed Hayley and Justin my findings with the energy surge, I decided to send in a drone with a duplicate of the receiver chip in your wedding band."

"If the Grid took them then it had to put them somewhere... It makes sense that if Tommy's ring is sending out the signal still then we should be able to pick it up from the inside."

"Exactly. The readings are being recorded in this device," Billy said, tapping the gadget he had wired into the system. "Each ping sends a secondary signal back to the original receiver."

"Which sends the coordinates to Hayley's GPS system. Unfortunately we cannot make sense of the information as yet because it matches no known universal location." He turned his chair to face Jason now. "What we do know is that Tommy at least is on the other side of whatever that anomaly is. Hopefully Kimberly is with him wherever he is."

"Can we be certain it's him?" Hayley said. "And not that he's lost his ring?"

"It's the only thing he ever does keep track of. The few times he's taken it off he puts it on the chain around his neck. With both halves of the arrowhead he shared with David. Tommy would die before he lost that ring."

"Like you said Jase," Justin said. "There's hope."

"So..." Hayley started. "How do we deal with this? Do we call off the search? Start monitoring all the Grid gateways?"

"Chain of command falls to you, Jase," Justin said. "What do we do?"

He rubbed at his tired face a few times before drawing in a deep breath. He let it go slowly. Then another. "I'm going for a run on the trails. I need to get rid of this pent up energy before I hurt myself or someone else. I want radio silence on this information but call off the search. Respond to any questions by stating there's going to be a Red Conference. Everyone except Aurico is ordered in."

"And where will you meet this time?"

"Where it all began. Tell everyone to bring a tent and some snacks. We might be a while."

"When?"

"Next weekend. That should give you three enough time to get more information and for the spaces cases to hightail their asses back to Earth."

**o0o**

The Red Conference went about as well as expected. The older guys took the situation seriously. The Rookies... Not so much. They questioned why so much effort was put into trying to find two old Rangers who no doubt could take care of themselves.

Aside from the fact that the two missing people were Rangers - that makes them family - and that they would pull out all the stops to find any one of them if they were in the same situation. Aside from the fact that without Tommy in charge, Jason had to admit everything seemed to be in utter chaos. And aside from the fact his husband disappearing with his ex girlfriend didn't exactly look all that great...

"You kids remember the night before the last battle? Tommy, at full power and alone, can do that much damage by himself if he's been put under someone else's control. And Kim has the power of a dark god flowing through her. Take my word on it, it's one hell of a struggle to keep that impulse under control. If the two of them were picked up and both went Dark Side at the same time, this world is done for. Thankfully, we might have found them. Unfortunately Dr. Cranston needs access to all of your Grid gateways to confirm his findings before we can move forward."

"What does that mean?"

"The Grid took them. The answer, unfortunately, is inside. None of us can physically go in for longer than it takes to morph. Otherwise we won't make it back out. But a drone and an Alpha unit can. The Grid looks different through each Gateway, reflecting the power and abilities of the team that uses it. That's why we need to check all of them to make sure the anomaly he discovered exists everywhere."

**o0o**

From then on those who had the time acted as escorts for Billy and Justin while Hayley worked back in the Lair keeping an eye on the steadily pinging signal of Tommy's tracker that she'd never told him about. The fact he frequently was that target of enemy kidnapping seemed as good a reason as any to hide the chip in the custom band she'd made for her best friend and his husband as a gift.

Foresight had always been her strong suit.

It was while Billy was in Briarwood, consulting with the Mystic Mother, his former enemy Rita Repulsa, and sending a drone through the Grid Gateway there that there was a change in the anomaly. Immediately she contacted Jason's communicator. When he answered, she wasted no time.

"Jason, where are you?"

_"Stone Canyon. Rocky and Adam needed help with the move."_

"Get home now. Something came out of the anomaly."

_"Which Dinos are in town?"_

"Trent.... and Conner's visiting his parents."

_"No one else?"_

"Kira's on tour and Ethan's in San Angeles working on a project for Bill."

_"Alright. Give me half an hour. Forty-five minutes tops. And call the kids."_

**o0o**

"What are we looking for again?"

"Don't know. Could be anything," Trent said as he swept the locator to the left of the trail again while Conner used one to check the right.

Their smart watches beeped in that annoyingly obnoxious tone Dr. Cranston had programmed into them. Trent answered for them. "Yeah Hayley?"

_"Your locators show that you're near where the object appeared after the grid surge. Do you see anything yet?"_

"Not yet."

_"Keep looking. We need to know what came out of that anomaly."_

They didn't need to look for much longer. When Conner's locator send back a positive reading for the radiation traces they left the trail and went deeper into the woods.

"Conner! Do you see that?!"

"I'd know that suit anywhere. He looks hurt."

"Come on, we have to get him back to the Lair," Trent said. Before he could even finish Conner was already a red blur before appearing at the fallen Ranger's side.

Trent raised his communicator. "Hayley, get the med room ready. We're teleporting in."

_"What? What did you find? Are you hurt?"_

"We found Dr. O... in the Black Dino suit."

_"What?!"_

"We'll explain when we get there. Just be ready."

**o0o**

Jason was mad. But... could anyone really blame him? It's not every day the Black Dino Ranger falls out of a hole in space and you learn it's not who it's supposed to be under the helmet.

But it did mark two months since Tommy and Kim went missing.

He didn't have time to be angry though. Not when the man who was under the helmet was shell-shocked to find three people he thought dead staring at him in disbelief.

The young man, barely out of high school, was injured and even with the Ranger healing, it was slow. After a few days in one of the cave chambers set up like a medical suite, the young man had finally started to regain consciousness again after the initial shock of seeing Hayley, Conner, and especially Trent alive and well.

Trent was the one with him at the time, an untouched lunch on a rolling cart beside him as he sat quietly sketching the man in the bed from different angles. He looked up when he heard the raspy voice ask for some water.

"Apple juice okay?" Trent asked as he picked up his cup and took it to him.

He nodded slowly, accepting the cup and drinking greedily. Like a thirsting man in a desert. When it was empty, he shakily gave it back.

"My gem-"

"Hayley has it. She's trying to find out where it came from."

"I need it back," the young man said as eyes widened as if in sudden realization. "I need it back now. Just in case-"

"In case what?"

"Where's Dr. O?" His voice was raising, a little more panicked. "I have to see him!" He reached for the IVs sticking out of his arm, yanking them out and pulling at the cords attached to the nodes on his chest. Trent managed to grab him before he was able to climb out of bed.

"Stop! You're injured!"

"I have to warn him! She's coming for him! The sentries!"

Trent couldn't hold onto him and the young man clad in a medical smock and tattered jeans managed to escape the medical room and into the cave system. He brought up his communicator. "Guys, he's on the loose. And in a panic."

_"What?!"_

"I think he's heading for the main control room," Trent replied. "I'm in pursuit. But be ready. He's stronger than he looks."

By the time Trent caught up with him, Jason had him in a bear hug from behind, the young man kicking the air angrily. Shouting for him to let him go so he could warn Dr. O about something.

"Somebody do something! I can't stand around holding him all day!"

"Conner," Hayley said. "Go upstairs to the master bedroom. There's a false floorboard under the dresser. Break it open and bring me what's inside."

"yes ma'am," Conner said before the red blur disappeared through the upstairs hatch. He was back not long after, a black and red zipper pouch in hand.

"What's that?"

"Given that you can't be cured..." Hayley said quietly. "Tommy asked me to come up with a contingency in the event that something ever happened to him." She opened the pouch, laying it open on a table in front of her. Inside, a dart gun. She selected a blue dart and loaded it into the gun.

"Are you serious?!" Conner exclaimed.

"It's just a sedative," she said. "Well, this one is." Hayley turned, taking careful aim at the young man struggling in Jason's arms. "Hold him still so I can get a clean shot."

Meanwhile the young man had been shouting and raving. "You don't understand! She's coming!" he ranted, kicking his legs. "She's coming and you can't- She's going to kill you all! We have to-"

There was a dull thunk as the dart was fired, propelled by the compressed air canister screwed onto the back. Jason held on as tight as he could without hurting him until he started to settle down. It didn't take long for the drug to take effect.

"You two, take him back to medical," he said, handing the young man off to Trent.

Once the Red and White Dino Rangers were gone, leaving him alone with Hayley in the control center of the Lair, he fixed her with a glare as she packed away the emergency tranq kit.

"What?" she snapped defensively.

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"You know what, Hayley."

She couldn't meet his angry gaze. Instead, she tucked the kit into the desk drawer to her right, locking it. "When you told him why you needed to leave," she said evenly. "He was... concerned for our safety in the event he was killed in action and you... lost control."

"Do any of those darts kill?"

"No. We both agreed nothing lethal."

He rubbed at his face and dropped down into a chair with a heavy sigh. "How far does this contingency go?"

"Phase one is sedation and disarm. We secure your morpher," she said quietly. "Phase two... immobilize in any way possible. Cryogenic freezing. Amber. A containment spell. Anything that is available or will work."

"And what's the end of the road for me?"

"Phase three is a pocket dimension. Permanent containment where you can't harm anyone but yourself. The same plan is in place for Kimberly, but for a different pocket dimension than yourself should you both..."

They sat in silence a long while before Conner reported back through the communicators that their guest was secured and that he was going to keep watch while Trent went on home. The only other sound for the longest time in the control center was the steady ping of the tracker signal coming from the anomaly in the Grid.

"I'm not angry," Jason said after some time. "No, I am angry. But I understand... Tommy and I... have an agreement and a non-lethal method goes against that."

"You know he could never- He loves you too much."

"I know. Which is why if it ever comes to it, I want you to put a dart in there with enough of something that will kill me."

"No. I won't. I can't."

"Hayley. Please. Consider it a last resort option if containing me fails. If I can't pull myself back out of the Rage. I don't want to live like that. Alone or otherwise."


	2. Chapter 2

Conner traded off with Jason for the night. Hayley had gone home, setting up her remote systems to alert her of any changes to the Grid or the signal. The house above was locked tight and silent as it was most nights when Jason was alone.

On those nights, like this one, he spent his hours in the Lair. Playing with the raptor riders so they wouldn't go stir crazy. Tuning up the bikes so they'd be in top form the next time any of the kids needed to run off and didn't feel like using the teleporters. Or cleaning up after the techs.

Tonight though, he sat with his feet up on a cart, a bottle of root-beer in hand as he scrolled through his phone. Checking his emails. Reading up on the news. Texting a few friends that couldn't sleep either.

When he heard the first groans signaling signs of life he didn't even look up from his game. "I wouldn't try to break those handcuffs if I were you," he said. Then he waited a moment. "And don't bother turning invisible. You're handcuffed to the bed. Which is bolted to the floor. You'd have to get past me to get to the door and you'll kick up some of the dirt."

He glanced from the corner of his eye as the young man peered over the side of the bed.

"Yeah. Started doing that when Tommy and Trent kept trying to sneak off to avoid standard post-battle screenings." He reached for his bottle and took a nice, long sip.

"Look buddy I don't know who you are but you have to let me go. I have to reach Dr. O-"

"Let's start simple, Kid. You got a name?"

"Black Dino Thunder Ranger."

"No. Your actual name that your mother called you when she shot you out into the world."

"Black Dino-"

Jason moved suddenly. His feet hit the dirt coated floor and his hand slammed the half-empty root-beer bottle on the cart. "I'm not playing around. Either you tell me your name or I'll get creative about asking."

"Devin," he said, swallowing. His one good eye blinking at him. "Devin Del Valle."

"See, that wasn't so hard was it, Devin?" he said. "I'm Jason Scott."

"Bullshit."

"Really?"

"What year is this?"

"2015."

"That's impossible... It can't be. I just left 2007. This can't be eight years in the future. I was supposed to go back. Back to 2004. This can't be eight years in the future," he repeated. "Conner's alive. Trent.... Trent has both his arms. Hayley-"

"Whoa there cowboy," Jason said, standing up and pocketing his phone. "Where do you think you are?"

"This looks like the Lair, but it can't be. This can't be Reefside."

"It is Reefside. In 2015."

"It can't be. Reefside in 2007 is gone. It's a radioactive crater."

He shook his head with a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Look... There's pieces missing on both sides here. Why don't we start over. Clearly you're a Power Ranger. Conner and Trent found you in the woods in the black and gold Brachio suit. The last person to wear that suit was Tommy. Dr. O. He's missing and we've been trying to find him. Hayley has been monitoring a weird thing in the Morphing Grid that we think took him. We picked up a change in the Grid right before you showed up. That's our side of this situation. Why don't you tell me yours."

"How do I know I can trust you? As far as I know, Jason Scott's dead."

"Okay, how?"

"No way. Not until I know for sure."

"Alright... Fine. You want to play hardball I can do that," he said as he reached behind himself and unclipped his morpher from his waistband. He held it up. "Red Ranger. First Earth team. Now, when was I supposed to have died?"

"October 2002."

"The first Red Mission," Jason said, putting his morpher back. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Dr. O never talked about it. Hayley told us it was a broken morpher."

"And Serpentera?"

"As far as we know, destroyed. Not that it matters. There's something a lot worse than that out there." He turned his head, and Jason now could clearly see the heavy scarring on the side of the young man's face. Earlier he'd been too concerned with keeping him detained to really look at him. He was lean and wiry. Clearly underfed but that might have been a result of the hardships he must have been facing wherever and whenever home for him was.

"How'd you get those scars, Devin?"

"They wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell them she wasn't who she said she was. Cassidy was a reporter. Not a very good one, but I learned things along the way. Something wasn't right about her. The way she clung to Dr. O. Manipulated him with a look and a smile. She even had Hayley fooled. But not me. So I followed her. I convinced Trent to come with me."

Jason nodded. It was understandable. The invisible man wanted to take the chameleon with him. Be it normal intuition, curiosity, or that gut feeling Tommy sometimes had when something was wrong... he learned a while ago never to question it. "What did you find?"

"She met up with Mesagog and Elsa. Dr. O's girlfriend, the same woman who knew our identities, knew our team inside and out thanks to Dr. O, was working with the enemy. When we went back to tell the others Cassidy accused me of stalking, Conner was convinced Trent was evil again, Ethan was convinced I was just jealous of all the attention she was giving to everyone else."

"Then what happened, Devin? Is that when you got the scars?"

He nodded, closing his eye with a sigh. "It was a bloodbath. She knew we followed her. She made a deal with Mesagog to get rid of the Rangers for him. In exchange she needed one Dino Gem. Black or White. He could have the rest. She didn't care." He drew a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. "She tried to take our gems but we fought her off. The way she moved... weightless. Deadly precision. We managed to get out of the Lair on the ATVs. Trent had Dr. O. We went south, trying to reach Stone Canyon. Sensei Park told us if anything ever happened to Dr. O, come to him. She was waiting for us. Always like she was one step ahead. Knew our every move. So... we went to the last place we ever thought she'd look for us. Silver Hills."

"The Silver Guardians. Wes and Eric."

He shook his head as if trying to shake the visuals of his memory loose. "She destroyed the place in less than an hour after our arrival. Trent and I were caught in the explosion. The emergency time drive was in pieces. Wes and Eric were forcibly de-morphed and killed. My face was already badly burned. She gouged my eye out with an arrowhead because I wouldn't tell her where we hid Dr. O. She cut off Trent's arm and took his gem. The sentries came along not much later to mop up any remaining resistance. They found Dr. O in the bunker where we hid him." He scoffed. " _A prize_ , she called him. _For her beloved conqueror king_."

"The scars look pretty old. How long ago was this for you?"

"Three years," he said. "Three long years of hiding. Fighting. Not many of us can still morph. And only if there's no other choice. They can find us when we do. Track the energy. There were a couple of ex-Rangers she never found. Smart ones that stayed underground. They rebuilt the time drive and set it up in Boneyard Bay... what used to be Reefside. It was a one way trip and was the best chance we had to saving our world. Something must have been damaged in the attack. We knew it was risky but we needed to be sure I would come to Reefside and not end up in the ocean, or some place like Oklahoma."

The two men sat in silence after Jason unlocked the handcuffs. He was now certain the young man wouldn't run off. There was nowhere for him to go, and no way for him to return. He was for all intents and purposes, stranded.

"Devin," he said after a long while. The young man rubbed at his wrist where the cuff had chaffed. "If you promise not to run off and stay put, we can go upstairs and you can clean up."

"I want my Dino Gem."

"Not yet."

"I need it. If they followed me-"

"Then we have an entire army of Rangers trained and ready to converge on this location in a matter of seconds, with a second wave incoming from space should the first wave be taken out."

Devin stared at him in disbelief. "A...an army?"

"An army. And we've already learned how to work together as a single massive unit against the most powerful evil empire in the universe. You're safe here."

He wanted to believe him. But Devin just couldn't be certain. He'd seen greater men fall, arrows in their backs. Skulls and helmets cleaved in two by axes. Daggers buried deep in rib-cages. Double bladed staves spinning to take out an entire squad of armed fighters. Maybe... maybe it wouldn't hurt to just pretend. Just for a little while.

He nodded, climbing out of the bed and standing a little unsteadily on his feet. "That'll be the drugs," Jason said, offering him an arm to steady him. "I'll talk to Hayley in the morning about getting your gem back. I know what it's like to be stripped of your morpher in an unfamiliar place. But you're safe here."

**o0o**

_"...Are you sure?"_

_"No. But what I do know is that the black Dino Gem was broken up so part of it could be used in the Green Power crystal."_

_"And you're sure he said his name is Devin Del Valle?"_

_"Positive... Why?"_

_"Because Devin is in Asia right now with his wife working on a documentary."_

_"So... a guy turns up sharing a name with a guy across the globe with a power that was bonded to someone else and no longer even exists. And you're questioning me about why I think he might be from another dimension?"_

Conner and Trent were crouched under the window of the study. Inside they could hear Jason and Hayley's back and forth.

"Dude," Conner said quietly. "I knew he seemed familiar. But with all that-" He waved his hand close to his own face. "You know."

"Yeah..." Trent said slowly. "This is too big not to tell the others."

"Right. You get back to your studio and send a message to Kira and Ethan. I'll come by later tonight and we'll do a Skype call."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Get more info for us to talk about tonight. If he's really Devin and really from another world, I gotta know why he's a Ranger and not Dr. O."

**o0o**

Everything was familiar, but at the same time so different than he was used to.

The doorways were narrower. The shelves in the guest room where Mr. Scott had directed him had books all the way to the top rather than stopping half-way. There were very few pictures of friends and family, too. The floors were less scuffed. The master bedroom was... well... an actual bedroom instead of a guest room.

And Trent didn't live there.

Everything was so... normal. Sinks higher. Towel bars at an average height on the walls. Little things that no one would really notice until confronted with the unsettling feeling of recognizing something but also recognizing the way it should be rather than the way it was.

There was more furniture in the house, too. Pathways around them were wide, yes but not quite wide enough.

The full gravity of his situation truly crashed upon him when he stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring up them and not seeing the mechanical lift that should have been mounted to the wall. There was no empty chair waiting at the top with dinosaurs stenciled in yellow nail polish on the chrome sides. Painted after an ill advised attempt to cheer the old guy up one October.

He jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder.

Instinct kicked in as he grabbed the hand, bending it back and twisting the arm to pin its owner to the wall face first.

"Whoa whoa!" Conner exclaimed, drawing the attention of Jason and Hayley from the study. "I'm a friend! Friend!"

As if suddenly realizing what he'd done and remembering where he was, Devin let go and backed off. "Don't sneak up on me."

"Yeah... I'll remember that," Conner said, rubbing at his wrist. "You could have broken my arm!"

"Sorry. I thought-"

"Hayley," Jason interrupted. "Why don't you take Conner downstairs and make sure he's alright."

"I'm sorry Conner. I didn't mean... For a second I thought you were-"

"I'll be okay. I've had worse," he said before following Hayley back to the study.

Devin watched them go, and Jason watched him. There was more than guilt behind the young man's eyes. There was a sadness there. A deep sorrow he recognized. "I can't imagine," Jason said softly. "What you're feeling right now. You watched them die and here they are. Alive and well."

"I know they're not the same people I knew. I just wish... I wish they'd lived long enough to see what they could have been, I guess. A world without Mesagog. Without the sentries. Without Her." Devin shook his head with a sigh, but remained just as tense.

"Lets get you something to eat. You look half starved. After you've had time to let your food settle we can head out back and maybe have a spar or a jog. Something to help get your mind off while we wait for Hayley to finish up on your Dino Gem."

"I don't want to be any more trouble, Mr. Scott."

"Call me Jason. And really it's no trouble at all. Really."

**o0o**

After hearing the news from Conner and Trent, Kira cleared a week out of her schedule. It wasn't much of a hardship considering she had a break in her tour coming up. So she wouldn't make it to some movie premier. Big deal. Ethan unfortunately couldn't get away from San Angeles until Billy came back, as much of the project the man was working on required someone to be around to make frequent small adjustments to the equipment.

Kira was back in Reefside two days after the Skype call from Conner and Trent.

They were waiting for her outside of Dr. O's place. Rather than head inside, the Dino trio went around the side of the house to the back. "This better not be a joke because I just talked to Cassidy last weekend and-"

Kira stopped in her tracks, two of her boys getting a few steps ahead of her before Trent turned to make sure she was following.

"They're..."

"Still in Hong Kong. Yeah, we know," Conner said when he turned to address her. Behind him and a little distance away were two men sparring. And it looked like Jason was getting his rear end handed to him. "Yo Big Red! Look what the Sabertooth dragged in!" Conner called out.

The two men called it quits, Jason waving them over as he went to a cooler to grab a bottle of water. He tossed one back to his sparring partner in black with ease before grabbing another for himself. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be-"

"I had some time. Needed to see this for myself. Is that really- I mean... He looks-"

"Yeah," the man in black said as he came up behind Jason. "Explosions at point blank range will do that. So... Kira Ford. You're Yellow. Huh. Weird."

She looked at his wrist as he raised the bottle to his mouth for a long pull from the plastic, finding the silver band with the very familiar black stone centered on it. It was pretty unsettling seeing it on someone else. Someone that wasn't... "How come Dr. O isn't the Black Dino Ranger?" she asked. The same question everyone had been dying to hear an answer to since his arrival.

If Kira had any doubts whether or not this man was Devin Del Valle, they were dashed in this moment as he shuffled his feet, stalled for an excuse and awkwardly tried to find something to do with his hands. "Uh... You see... well... The thing is he uh... couldn't? Because, uh... the gem didn't bond with him?"

"Well obviously. But didn't Mesagog kidnap him and your Rangers had to go-"

"Well, yeah. He did but... it's complicated?"

Jason watched the exchange with mild interest before stepping in. "Thanks for the workout, kid. Why don't you head in and wash up. My friend Billy should be coming back tonight and he's probably going to want to do some tests himself."

"Yeah... yeah, good idea Mr. Scott. I'll just be, uh, inside."

"For the last time, call me Jason. I'm not that old."

"Actually man, you're pretty old. Like, ancient," Conner said, trying to lighten the mood so Devin could get away. The moment the back door closed behind him, it was Trent that spoke up rather than his two over-eager teammates.

"You gave him back his morpher?"

"Hayley cleared it. It's not a copy. It's not corrupted. It has a slightly different vibrational frequency than yours does but other than that it's a perfectly normal Dino morpher."

"That happens to have Dr. O's power attached to a different person," Kira reminded them as Jason took another big gulp of water.

"He's going to be a while. Why don't you guys bring the cooler in and I'll explain it as best as I can while I wait for my turn in the shower."

Trent and Conner carried the cooler between them as Jason led the way inside to the kitchen. The four Rangers sat, each with a snack and a drink as Jason told them everything he knew - everything Devin had been willing to tell him in the short time he'd been aware that whatever his plan or mission had been, he had failed.

When he was through, the three Dino Rangers still had questions. Ones he really couldn't answer because he didn't have the full story either.

Kira sat back, picking at the remains of her pita before sliding it to Conner who'd been eyeing it like he was ready to bite her fingers off to get to it. "Okay, so we don't know why Devin's the Black Dino and not Dr. O. But everything so far doesn't explain why this mysterious woman had such a strong influence over this other world's version of him. And the team. Why was Devin unaffected by her charms? How was this other Trent able to be persuaded while the rest of his team and Dr. O wasn't?"

Jason had his suspicions. He didn't know who this woman was, but he thought he could understand part of the why when it came to the alternate Tommy. "Whoever this woman was, she posed as his girlfriend. Tommy doesn't let people get that close to him easily. And when he does the lucky person gets his absolute trust. Whoever she is, she had to know this otherwise he never would have let her near his team."

"You're right," said a voice, the body coming into sight a few moments later. The black clothes clearly didn't fit right. A belt holding up pants slightly too big. A long-sleeved shirt that hung off him, too broad at the shoulders. Jason had lean him some of Tommy's clothes to wear, the young man expressing the compulsion to wear his Ranger color whether he was aware of it or not. To Devin, it was clean and comfortable. No holes. No tatters. Soft fabrics that didn't stink of blood and sweat for a change.

He couldn't be sure if he was trapped in a dream world, dead and gone to heaven, or if he actually had been transported to another world or plane of existence. While part of him still wanted to find a way to get back to his world, to get to the past and warn everyone about the impending doom of their world... part of him never wanted to leave this place. A world at peace. With clean clothes, warm beds, and three square meals a day.

"At first she wasn't so bad," he finally said, coming to join them at the table. He sat close to Jason - something that wasn’t lost on the others. "But she was late getting back to Dr. O's place one night. It was after that I started having a bad feeling about her. When the world went to shit and after she did this to my face and took Dr. O... Trent and I hooked up with a resistance movement called Second String."

Jason frowned. "That's what we called our replacements. Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Kat."

"You knew Kat Hillard?" Devin said suddenly, turning so his good eye could stare at him. "Catastrophe Kat?"

"Yeah."

"She's alive?"

"It's her turn to host the Ranger Thanksgiving this year," Jason said. "Since Tommy's... well. Not here."

Devin looked down at his hands, not sure what to do with this information.

"Well..." Kira said slowly. "So does this mystery evil girlfriend have a name?"

"Yeah," he said. "But I don't even know if it was her real name or not. Wolf said it couldn't have been her though."

"Who was she, Devin?" Jason asked, hoping the name that came to mind was wrong.

"She called herself Kim Hart. But she couldn't have been."

"Why not?"

Devin swallowed, keeping his eye on his hands in his lap. "Because she had to be put down like a rabid dog. Just like Jason Scott."

Jason's heart beat wildly in his chest as his adrenaline began to spike. "It wasn't a broken morpher, was it Devin?"

He shook his head. "No. No one knew until after we rescued Andros and Wolf from a labor camp. Right before the moon mission Ms. Hart contacted Wolf with a problem. One that... made her hurt people."

"The _Maligorian Rage_ ," Jason said evenly. Devin only shrugged.

"He tried to help her but she turned. She killed people. I don't know the details but he never told anyone. No one but him knew she was dead. He made it look like she just ran off. Being an ex-Ranger she could have just gone off planet and never came back. When the same thing happened on the moon..."

"Tommy and I were the only ones on that mission who knew my morpher wasn't affected by Ooze destroying the command center. It wasn't active on the Grid at the time because Rocky was using the copy... How does Andros figure into this?"

"He's the one that found Dr. O... after."

Trent looked from their otherworldly guest to Jason and back again. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Because honestly I don't think he would have had it in him."

Jason closed his eyes and nodded. "Well... guess that answers that question then."

"I was shocked myself when I found out," Devin said, offering up a weak smile. "Kind of mad that my world ended because now Ethan owes me a hundred dollars."

"I'm sort of afraid to ask, but mildly intrigued..." Kira said.

"After we found three empty bottles of tequila in his recycle bin around his birthday, we placed bets on why he drank so much of the stuff when the rest of the year it was hard to get him to even touch something that wasn't sugar free."

"What did Ethan say it was?"

"Being a lonely old man on his birthday and surrounded by Power Rangers when he couldn't be one himself anymore."

"And you?"

"Bad breakup with the ex."

"No way."

Devin shrugged. Jason sighed and got up from the table. It was a lot to process.

"Hate to admit," Kira said. "Having to kill your boyfriend to save the world does lend itself to a drinking problem."

"Let's hope it never comes to that," Trent said as he watched Jason quietly leave the kitchen, presumably for his turn in the shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had meant to post this much earlier in the night, but here you go. Better a few hours late than never.  
> How's that for a out of left field twist? Devin Del Valle as the Black Dino Ranger. Honestly I've only told like one person that I was thinking of doing that. And the more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea.  
> Also, Devin being so disfigured that Conner, Trent, and Hayley not realizing right away who he was just was an idea that wouldn't leave me alone. And of course Jason wouldn't have a clue who Devin even was in the first place really. In their world, Devin's just some random guy so there's no reason for Jason to remember him if he did ever meet him.


	3. Chapter 3

Billy spun the chair around so that he could look at the young man once again. "Remarkable..." he said. "I never dared to speculate that the possibility of the Many Worlds theory may in fact be more than just an educated hypothesis. And yet here you are. Living proof that we are not only not alone in the universe but that there are in fact multiple universes existing side by side. This is... this truly remarkable."

Devin shrugged, his silent gaze following the wires connected the contraption on his head to the computer bank.

"Jason and the Dino team have told me what they know of your story, but I would like to hear it from you directly if you are willing. I have so many questions."

"I might not know how to answer them," Devin said uncomfortably. "I mean, I've only been a Power Ranger for a few years-"

"Tommy's team was active from Autumn 2003 to late Spring 2004. According to Jason you claim to have traveled here from the year 2007. That would make you an active Ranger for approximately three, possibly three and a half years. Correct?"

Devin could only nod.

"We will start easy. Do not leave anything out, no matter how painful it may be. I need to be able to see a clear timeline of events in order to pinpoint where your world and our world began to diverge into two unique timeline of events."

Devin swallowed, glancing to the bottle of water on the desk beside the first Blue Ranger. "May I?" he asked, indicating the bottle.

Billy handed it to him and sat, patiently waiting for the accidental traveler to begin.

**o0o**

Billy did not divulge more than Devin was willing to allow, and for that the young man was grateful. He could see that his startling revelations of what their world could have been was enough to shake their faith. Not only in what they knew to be reality, but also in themselves.

Devin kept to himself mostly. On a handful of occasions he would morph to help handle the occasional monster attack. He was grateful that despite his being from another world, a complete stranger to these people, they started to warm up to him. It was almost but not quite like he was home again. Before the ugliness. Before the betrayal and the terror.

Mr. Scott, certainly, seemed to be in better moods if what Hayley said could be believed. Devin liked to think it was because he had someone to look after. Or at least knowing that if he could come here from somewhere else, then his Dr. O was somewhere else and could find a way back.

He continued to help their friend Dr. Cranston in any way he could. Submitting himself to various tests and trials. He even allowed them to draw blood, for all the good he thought it would do. The only abnormality they found had been traces of radioactive isotopes. It wasn't a surprise given the fact he spent most of his days in a radioactive wasteland that had once been California.

Using the readings he had taken from Devin, Billy had modified one of his drones and sent it into the Morphing Grid. And further than that... into the anomaly.

Two days later Devin, Trent, and Jason were searching the Reefside warehouse district following another energy surge. When they arrived there was no doubt that something had come through the anomaly into their world from another.

"This is like searching for a needle in a haystack," Devin said as he whacked the side of his locator when it seemed like the readings didn't make sense. "Are you guys picking up multiples?"

"Yeah..." Trent said slowly. "I don't like this."

"Alright. We'll need to split up to cover a wider area. You two go stealth. In case whatever we find isn't friendly, it's best to have the element of surprise." He went for his communicator. "Hayley, how close are we to the initial readings?"

_"Not far, Jason."_

"Good. We should be done here soon and back at the Lair with... whatever we find."

_"Good luck, boys."_

After another twenty minutes of searching Jason heard sounds of a struggle echoing out of what looked to be a packaging department. He crouched behind a some crates, trying to get a good view and assess the situation.

"Get out of here! Go!" shouted the red Zeo Ranger, his helmet cracked and his uniform ripped. "Go!"

An old man tried to run dodging the blaster fire that followed him. Zeo Ranger 5 leapt forward, sword raised and forcing his attacker to dodge. The butt of the rifle slammed into his helmet, and it was then Jason got a good look at the attacker. The helmet was too familiar to be a coincidence...

Jason was just about to jump into the action when Devin became visible in mid-air, dropping down onto the masked attacker's back with a metal pipe, catching the enemy by surprise.

"I've got the sentry! You go after the old man!" Devin shouted, hooking the pipe under the chin of the black helmeted sentry and pulling back as hard and tight as he could. "Go!"

Jason didn't need to be told twice. He left, following where he had seen the old man flee. Behind him he could hear a body thud, crates breaking and their contents spilling out onto the ground as the fight continued on. He caught up with the old man, the wretched fool having found himself in a dead end. "Hey!" Jason called.

The old man turned, and the first Red Ranger saw him hugging some contraption to him closely, an old power blaster clutched in his shaking hand. "If you want this," the old man snapped angrily. "You'll have to kill me first!" He lowered the weapon just enough to fire a warning shot at Jason's feet to show he was serious, then raised it again. "I might be old, but I'm not helpless!"

Jason raised his hands, taking a small step forwards. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said as calmly as he could, despite the adrenaline dump that surged through his system. "There was an energy spike in the Grid. I was sent to find out what came through."

Jason dared take another step, and the old man fired again, his shaking hand causing him to miss... but not by much. The sleeve of Jason's red workout shirt was singed. The acrid smell of burning synthetic fabric clung to the air. "Why don't you put down the power blaster and-"

"I'm not falling for that again!"

Jason felt the nozzle of another blaster in his back. "Unless you want to die today," a hard, but familiarly accented voice said. "I suggest you not take another step."

The old man yelped as an arm snaked out of nowhere, knocking the blaster from his hand and pinning the old man's arm behind his back. The maneuver caused the old man to drop the device he was holding so tightly onto the poured cement floor, causing the casing to crack and the internal circuitry and wiring to spill out/ "No! The portal drive!"

"Take your gun off my friend, and I'll let yours go, lady." Trent's eyes were hard, his grip tightening enough to show he meant business, but not enough to seriously injure the old geezer.

The four of them were like this when Devin and Zeo Ranger 5 found them. Devin's new shirt torn across the torso and the Ranger's sword still dripping blood.

"So..." Devin said cautiously, edging around the group so he could put himself in the middle. "New team. Meet what's left of my old team. How about the two of us that are morphed power down and the ones with hostages just uh... let them go."

"How can we be certain this isn't another of the Slayer's tricks?" the woman behind Jason said. "One of her elaborate mind games to try and get us to turn on one another again?"

"Catastrophe, stand down," the Red Ranger said, and Jason heard the click of the safety as the nozzle was removed from the center of his back.

"Trent... you too," Jason said. "Show of good faith."

The moment the White Dino Ranger let go of the old man, he sank to his knees and started gathering the parts of the device frantically. "No... no no no! It's ruined!"

Jason turned to face his brief captor as Devin knelt beside the old man, helping him gather the pieces and speaking quietly to him. Jason eyed the blaster in the pink clad ninja's hands. All he could see of her face were her eyes. As for Zeo Ranger 5... it wasn't hazel eyes that looked back at him from the broken visor. But they were familiar.

When he raised his wrist, the woman pulled the blaster up again, so Jason made sure his movements were slow and obvious. "Hayley. Hayley, come in."

_"I've got you Jason. You're right on top of the-"_

"Yeah... we know. Friends of Devin. Plus..." His eyes strayed to the Zeo sword clutched tightly in the Ranger's hand. Still dripping. "A body. Who do we have on hand?"

_"With the kids all out of town... Best I can do are some Vets."_

"I don't care who. Just send me some backup to clean this mess up."

**o0o**

Rocky and Adam hadn't been out to Reefside in three months. Not since their friends had disappeared. The fact it was a dead body wearing a Mastodon Black Ranger helmet, with what looked like battle armor of some kind, drew them out to the lonely house on Valencia Road was more unsettling than the lizard-human hybrid that was hiding inside it all.

They took the body back to the Lair, not really knowing what else to do with it. Rangers didn't kill. Yes monsters got destroyed, and if they were once human were reverted back to normal. But Rangers didn't kill on purpose.

But one of their new guests, wearing one of Tommy's morphs, did.

"First you get another Black Dino Ranger two months after Kim and Tommy go missing. Now out of the blue you're asking us to help hide a body killed by another of Tommy's old morphs... what is going on here?" Rocky asked when they left the chamber, with Jason locking it with his hand print behind them.

"Honestly? I don't know. Billy's still trying to figure it out."

"The only reason we came was because Hayley said no one else could. Between my back and Adam's headaches-"

"Wait. Adam's still having those?"

"Headaches happen, Jase."

"Yeah..." Jason said thoughtfully. But he let it go for now. There were bigger problems to deal with than the man lying on his couch upstairs.

When they returned to the central command of the Lair, they found Billy at a table, the device the old man had been trying to protect sat open, the innards spread out before him. "Incredible..." he was mumbling to himself before picking up a digital voice recorder and making notes on what he observed from the contraption.

"Thanks for the help," Jason said to his fellow Red Ranger. "I'll ask around, see who has the right equipment to put that thing on ice until we know what we're dealing with." As an afterthought, he added, "Stay for dinner."

"We should really be getting back. We have that final interview next week and with the way his head's been he needs all the rest he can get."

Before Jason could reply, Billy interrupted, never leaving his work station. "Adam has never been one to take ill so frequently in such a short amount of time. The Ranger healing ensures it. When did these headaches begin?"

Rocky shrugged. "A couple months?"

Billy hummed to himself as if thinking of something but changing his mind on whether to say it or not. "I didn't see your car parked out front," Billy said instead of what he really had been thinking. "I assume you teleported?"

"Hayley said it was pretty urgent."

Billy nodded and continued working with the wiring in front of him. "I have an elixir from Aquitar in my lab at Hartford Manor. I'll send some to you soon for Adam to try. It may alleviate some of the more debilitating symptoms. If it helps I can ask Cestro to send me double my usual supply."

"We'll try anything at this point. Thank you."

**o0o**

The four stood on the back porch of the house at 1992 Valencia Road in silence. The woman who had been wearing a pink Ninja suit before had since powered down, like her Zeo Ranger companion. He now sat with a robotic limb sitting on a table next to old clay pots. A screwdriver in hand as he made some adjustments and assessed it for damage.

"So..." Trent started. "You're from the same place as Devin."

"Yes," the woman said. Her hard voice softened only a little by her accent. She was so strange to Trent, an unsettling feeling of familiarity to her but only because he knew another version of her. One that was a mother and ballet instructor. Happy in her life back in Mariner Bay. But here? On the back porch of his teacher's house? Battle hardened. Slightly muscular. Some sort of blaster rifle hanging off her hip and blond hair clipped short, close to the scalp. "When reality did not collapse around us, we thought him dead and his mission a failure."

"I was brought here instead," Devin said quietly without looking up from the bottle of coke he held between his hands. "How are you even alive? I watched the Red Sentry drive his blade clean through you."

"Her boss was keen on adding more than morphers to his collection. And I was keen to track down where they had moved our friends," she said and wouldn't go into more detail than that.

Devin turned his attention to his one-armed friend. "And you? What happened after Boneyard Bay?"

"The time drive was destroyed in the attack. Wolf and I got away but... Kong.. he... uh... He went down fighting."

Trent watched as Devin went to his friend, a battle scarred and war hardened version of himself, and took his screwdriver from him before pulling the man into a tight hug. He heard Devin murmuring to him but could not hear what was said. "I know it's not my house," he said after a few moments. "But I'm sure Jason won't mind if you guys cleaned up. Maybe got some rest."

"Thank you," the woman said. "I'd rather sit by my friend's side. Wolf and I have been through much together."

"We're good here. Trent could you-"

"Yeah," he said, grateful to be out of the presence of his doppelganger. He led her back through the house to the study, gently pulling down on the T-Rex model's lower jaw. A smile graced her face when she saw it, reaching out to stroke a finger down the spine. "Bone-a-saurus Rex," she said with a hint of fondness, her voice closer to the Kat he knew than this battle weary one he'd found with her blaster rifle pressed into Jason's back. "Even here Tommy still has that silly thing..." she said as Trent indicated for her to follow him down.

As they descended the stairs, they could hear Billy speaking to the empty room... recording his findings.

"Hey, where's the old men?"

"Rocky left a while ago. Jason went to play with the raptors. They've been getting more and more unsettled since this all began. I believe that since they are created using Grid energy they feel the disturbances to a greater degree than Adam or even Tommy would."

"Okay... well... we're just going to-"

"Visit with my counterpart. He is still in the medical chamber on a saline drip. When he arrived he had correctly assessed that he suffered from severe dehydration and is malnourished. His implant is, I am afraid to say, damaged though given what he had to work with he has frozen his aging process at approximately seventy-three years of age."

"That's YOU!?"

"No. I am me. He is he. Since our worlds diverged, I suspect sometime shortly after the Rangers' excursion to Muiranthias and first encounter with the space pirate Divatox, we have led entirely different lives with similar but unique experiences. For example, my wife left me and kicked me off the planet. My children could not come to Earth because they are half Aquitian and the impurity of the waters would kill them."

"Wait... You have kids?!"

"Yes. However my counterpart returned to Earth under different circumstances and had been able to bring his children with him. In that timeline their physiology more closely resembled Earth Human rather than Aquitian. As a result they could not survive long term on Aquitar and his wife could not survive on Earth more than a few hours. A day if they found a pure enough water source."

Trent was still stuck on the fact that Billy, a man he had known for years, a man who was best friends with the first team of Power Rangers, actually had an entire family none of them knew about. "So when you disappear for weeks at a time-"

"I am visiting with my children and giving them access to the other side of their heritage as per the agreement with their mother when we parted ways." He resumed his work. "I would greatly appreciate if you told no one. My friends mean well but they can go overboard with showing their concern and support as I am sure you have become aware."

Trent nodded and mumbled his agreement before leading the woman onwards into the bowels of the cave system. He knew the maze like the back of his hand, but walked slower so she could keep up.

"I'm impressed," she said, coming up alongside him. "Tommy did all of this?"

"Not quite," he said. "Dr. O and Hayley bought the land but the caves are naturally occurring in this area. It made for a perfect base and the natural energies helped shield the Dino Gems from Mesagog until my friends found them and took them.." He nodded towards an offshoot of the cave corridor. "Medical's just ahead. This way."


	4. Chapter 4

When Jason Lee Scott calls you in the middle of the night on a phone number that only 7 of the first 10 Red Rangers even knows exists, you don't ask questions. When he calls that number and tells you he needs help dealing with a dead body, you then get to ask questions. Only three questions and only in a specific order.

_**Is it Tommy?** _

_**Did you do it?** _

If the answer to the first and second question are both 'no' then you ask the third.

_**When and where do we pick it up?** _

Admittedly, the series of questions had never needed to be asked before. So by the time Jason had come to Silver Hills some time later, alone, Wes was chomping at the bit to get some answers about why he and Eric had to go down to Reefside to pick up a dead lizard man from the Oliver-Scott basement at 3AM.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Beats me," he said. "What I want to know is why it was wearing this." He held up the helmet. The face-plate was cracked, the visor sporting a hole that matched the missing eye on the lizard man laid out on the cold slab.

Wes took the helmet from him, examining it briefly before handing it off to Eric. "When did your new batch of house guests arrive again?"

"Two weeks back," Jason said. "And the first one a month before that."

"That's around the time we got cut off from Jen and the others."

"What?"

Eric was still examining the helmet, scrutinizing every detail of it as Wes explained to Jason about trying to contact Jen to get any information they could after learning about this otherworldly Black Dino Ranger but finding their link to the rest of the Time Force team had been severed. They had been working for six weeks to re-establish contact, rotating in Blues and techs from all over.

"What do you know about this other world your guests are from?" Eric said as he held up the helmet in such a way that it appeared he had been looking at it face to face. It was wider than the First Black Ranger's helmet should have been. The inside had a bulkier communications relay inside than was standard for most Ranger helmets he had seen. At closer inspection the visor had doubled as some sort of visual display. Which meant there had to be some computerized component inside, which accounted for the thickness.

Once again, Jason repeated what he knew. And what he had learned since the arrival of their dead friend on the slab. Adding in the fact that in this other world both he and Tommy are dead.

Eric finally set the helmet down next to the head of the lizard man. "Do you think this other world is where Kimberly and Tommy were taken?"

"No."

"why not? Clearly there's some kind of pathway between our world and theirs. If they can come here then why can't our friends be there."

"Because according to their version of Billy, their Black Dino Ranger left four years ago. When he came he said the year for him was 2007. When they arrived the year was 2011. You know as well as I do that if Tommy were there..."

Wes sighed and shook his head. "Then they'd know it. Because he just can't say no to the Power. If he shows up and there's a fight going on, as soon as he knows which side is the good guys he'd be in the thick of it. And since Kimberly is with him, her too."

"Unless," Eric said, drawing their attention back to the helmet by tapping it with a gloved finger. "He can't tell which side is which."

"That's what's most concerning about this entire situation. This guy, if he's even a guy, was killed by a Ranger. We don't kill. But their world went to war. Powers were stolen and twisted. It changed them. These sentries or whatever they are, all have variants of the original powers from Zordon. Devin's told me and Billy about them. This guy was a grunt. Infantry. There's yellow ones, too. A mix of grunts and officers. Pinks are usually snipers."

"A lot like your team was. Taylor's blaster was also a melee weapon. Kwan, from what I've heard, was a skilled tactician also used to hand to hand combat. Hart had the bow and arrow. Distance weapon and cover fire. Blue? Red?"

"No blues. Don't know why. Reds are the elite force. One arm Trent says-"

Wes couldn't help but interrupt. "Did you just... 'one arm Trent'? Are you seriously calling him that?"

"Well, he has one arm," Jason said in his defense. "And his name is Trent. I have two Trents that hang around my house now. I have to call him something."

"But one arm? You make him sound like some kind of pirate."

"For all I know he might be!"

"Guys!" Eric shouted to get their attention. "Lets get back on track here. Lizard man with a Ranger helmet laying dead on a slab like some kind of lizard-sicle."

Jason drew a deep, steadying breath. "You're right. I don't know about any blue ones, but the Trent with one arm says the only time he's ever seen Red sentries are when this woman called the Slayer is around. They're some kind of elite guard for the higher ups."

Eric nodded as he thought it over. "It makes sense... The Red Rangers are almost always the leaders. Your team, certainly. If the Rangers in this other world were conquered then having the strongest symbol of resistance leadership in a clearly inferior position would send a certain message. Especially if anyone knew the history behind the helmet. It may not be that world's version of you under that helmet, but to the ones in power it's a trophy and a warning. If the First Red Ranger could be subdued, anyone can."

Wes shook his head, glancing back to the body on the slab. "Who would do something like that though? Who would even have the power to?"

"You forgot what I told you. In their world I never came home from the moon. I raged out and Tommy had to kill me. When this slayer woman came to town it was a few years later at the least. During the Dino Thunder period."

"Where Tommy didn't gain the Black Dino powers."

"Exactly. The only person that COULD take me on head to head already did and won. Whoever did that," he said, pointing to the helmet. "Is someone a hell of a lot stronger than Tommy. And that's someone I don't want coming here."

Eric was quiet, leaving the talking to Wes as he tried to put his thoughts in order. "So what do we do?" Wes asked him. "Two of our three biggest weapons are missing. One of them is a walking early warning system. We've been cut off from the only source of information we could pull from that could at least point us in the right direction. And you've got people appearing out of thin air in Reefside. One of which is some kind of lizard hybrid."

Eric tapped the helmet again as he thought, listening to the two men as they tried to figure out how to move forward. "You know," he said. "I'm a skeptic. I had to be. Before becoming a Ranger my line of work didn't have room for any of this magical sci-fi ninja crazy bullshit. This whole mysterious Power all you old timers go on about-"

"You're one of the old timers now, too," Jason reminded him. Eric gave a dismissive wave.

"Look, Scott. What I'm trying to say is that something is going on here that's a lot bigger than we can see, and I think everything might be connected. Kimberly and Tom disappeared and then this guy shows up with one of Tom's old powers. The last one he had before he got back into his Greens. The next guy that shows up has another of Tom's powers."

"So you think we should expect more to show up? Another red and a white?"

"No. But we all know what happens when you get two Rangers pulling the same power off the same grid with the same device. It's not pretty. He might not be able to use those powers, but they're still connected to him. If those two morphed while Tom was here what do you think would happen?" He waited for Jason to process what he'd just said, and when the moment hit and he could read the other Red's face, he nodded and continued. "This almighty Power you guys put so much faith in just did him and Kimberly a favor. He's cut off from our morphing grid so it doesn't hurt him. And she's out of the way so they don't try to kill her for something some other version of her did."

Over the course of the remainder of the day, Wes reassured Jason that before they lost contact with Jen, she was certain that Tommy and Kim would return. Now that they believed they had figured out why they were missing there was a strong hope that their return would come at the resolution of the current problem. The three men made some calls. Anton Mercer and his wife were on their way to examine the body given their particular background. The equipment was going back with Jason for further study by Hayley. Conner and Trent were babysitting the house guests while Jason...

Jason decided to make a special trip to the last place he ever thought he'd go again.

When Jason had driven to Sacramento rather than teleport directly, he had done so in order to give himself time to think about what he was doing very carefully. When he arrived at his destination, he stared at the address in Tommy's diary and took one last moment to reconsider what he was about to do. Finally he got out of the old pick-up truck, tossing the diary onto the seat and slamming the door. Making sure it was known that he had arrived.

The walk up from the curb was a short one. His steps long and filled with purpose. The heavy knocker on the door spoke of excess and narcissism. He reached up and gave it a swift and heavy bang.

When the door opened, the older blond man greeted him with a sleazy smile that seemed to ooze loathing and smugness all at once. "I was wondering when one of you would turn up," he said, leaning against the door with a martini in hand. "You know, I never expected it to be you."

"Cut the shit, Zedd."

"That's Lord Zedd to you, human."

"Lord over what? The home owner's association? The neighborhood watch?" Jason quipped back, shouldering his way inside. "Oh, I know. Garden club. You always had a knack for making things grow."

The door slammed behind him. "As impudent as ever, Red Ranger. Of course, come right in, make yourself at home," the mortal man formerly known as the fearsome Lord Zedd spat bitterly at his unwelcome visitor's back.

"There's something I need, but I can't get to it. You can take me."

"In case you've forgotten your floating head of a mentor's energy purified me and stripped me of my powers."

"Really? So I was just imagining your neighbors discovering their dogs turned to stone was just what? A Gorgon running loose through the neighborhood?"

Zedd shrugged with a smirk. "It's been known to happen. I hear Angel Grove used to have problems like that all the time."

Jason didn't have time for games. He reached out, grasping the man's shoulder and gripping far too tightly to pass for even a Ranger's grip. He could feel his skin flush as he let just a little, just a touch, of the spark of what burned inside him come to the surface. He could hear the monster in is own voice when he spoke. "You and I are going to have a very long talk about the fact you've been rebuilding your collection on the moon. And then you're going to take me there to find the copy of the Dragon Coin that Tommy left with his clone in the 1700s."

Zedd tried not to wince when Jason had grabbed him and nearly threatened to crush his very human shoulder. Though a hint of satisfaction wormed its way into his voice when he spoke, watching the flames in the Red Ranger's eyes burning with the fires of hatred and a longing for something more... destructively satisfying. "So Divatox was telling the truth. How does it feel, Red Ranger? The evil coursing in your veins. Turning your worst nightmares into your only desires. Is that why Thomas keeps you around? Just in case you surrender he can snap your neck. Oh..." Zedd said, actually smiling through the pain Jason was inflicting on his shoulder. The pain was nothing compared to the amusement of the irony.

"Jason the noble," he taunted, almost giddy. "The honest and the brave. Zordon's favorite corrupted and brought so low with the rest of us filth."

**o0o**

"You're finally up and around," he said, looking up from his work. "What you've managed to do with scraps is... to say the least, fascinating. Your arrival burned out the internal power source but with modifications and spare parts from another drone I may be able to repair it."

Billy watched as the older man was eased into a chair by his ever loyal friend. She had unwillingly surrendered her weapon before Jason had left to see about the body the Silver Guardians were holding for them, and she seemed very uncomfortable with out. She covered this insecurity by tending to his counterpart.

"The black box is intact so it should be a simple matter of retrieving the data and filtering it through my simulator to re-create the necessary circumstances to open the portal again without having to gain access directly through the grid gateways first."

"You plan to create a secondary mode of inter dimensional transportation. Possibly an Einstein-Rosen bridge?"

"Similar but not quite. An Einstein-Rosen bridge would be what I would seek to establish if I were attempting to shorten my transit to Aquitar or Liaria. I suppose it would be a similar concept but between two universes that run alongside one another."

The older Billy nodded. "When we found your drone we had come into a most desperate situation. We had believed Devin to have failed his mission to prevent the invasion. To find that he instead came to a new world... it gives me hope that we may yet find a solution to saving what remains of mankind."

Billy gave a small nod. "Devin has told me everything he can about your world and how it reached its current state. But I still have questions that I believe you may be better able to answer than he can."

Alt-Kat stood with her hand on her older companion's shoulder. "Our worlds were not so different once."

"Sadly those similarities ended once the Slayer arrived in our timeline."

"Tell me," Billy said. "Who or what is this Slayer? I assume she looks like Kimberly, as Devin has said you told him it could not have been her."

The older man nodded, closing his eyes and slumping forward some. Alt-Kat kept her hand on his shoulder, offering him what comfort and support she could. "He told you what I had to do," he said quietly as his younger counterpart, native to this strange, peaceful world, waited patiently. He looked up at him, eyes unable to focus, his vision having gotten far worse when his implant had been damaged. "She... The Slayer came to our world while my children and I were on Edenoi, helping the scientists there create and test a terraforming device in an attempt to rebuild their ecosystem. When I returned to Earth it was... in the midst of chaos. Andros and I gathered those we could from the different teams in space. Allies from Aquitar and Iquiris... we even turned to Zedd, who went by the name _Lionel Zedler_ -"

"As he does here since Rita left him."

Alt-Kat nodded. This, indeed, was similar as well. "Zedd had secretly been collecting artifacts for years after the Z-Wave. He was hoarding them in the old palace on the moon. It was shielded from scans and dark magic was used to hide it from sight. We were forced to retreat there when the Slayer helped Mesagog activate his reversion device. Anyone on Earth without a morpher or protected by the Power... they were transformed. From then she picked us off. She built her fortress on the ruins of Zordon's command center before staging an assault on the moon against us. We fought as hard as we could but..."

"It's alright Bill," Alt-Kat said softly, crouching beside the chair and gently rubbing circles on his back.

"It's all my fault..."

"You did the best you could. You tried to protect everyone else. You never expected someone to show up with her face. She had us all fooled."

He shook his head and looked up, past his friend and to his older yet younger counterpart. The one who lived in peace and plenty, yet completely and utterly alone. "I should have told Tommy what I had to do. I know that now. He would have hated me but he... he would have known she was an impostor when she first arrived."

"If regrets were candy bars I'd have the largest waistband in two galaxies," Billy said. "We cannot change the past no matter how much we would wish to. But we can change the future."

"I don't-"

"You sent one of your fighters into the past to change the past. Had he arrived where he was meant to, how did you believe things would play out? If your world's present had never taken place, then Devin would never have been sent to the past to ensure it never happens. Thus triggering a paradox event and splitting into two separate timelines. Your world would only be one option of two, and continue on as before. The only way to truly prevent you world's destruction is to create a cataclysmic cascading event that cannot be corrected." Billy watched him curiously a moment. "But... you would know this... If my calculations are correct, and they usually are, you sent Devin through a gateway linking the same geographical location in both our worlds together. What we know as Reefside is in your world Boneyard Bay. You could have placed him anywhere in the area but you specifically chose a forested location within half a day's walk to the secondary entrance of the Lair."

"Reefside is where everything started," Alt-Kat said. "Rocky... Rocky was supposed to make the trip instead."

" _Kong_?"

She nodded. "It was safer to use names that the Slayer would not immediately recognize. Rocky was meant to go to the past and warn Tommy about the impostor. Or, if it were too late, confront her before he had the chance to destroy our world."

"Why Rocky?"

"He... Since Adam was..." The older Billy shook his head and murmured to her. She nodded, wiping at her eyes and excusing herself.

"When Adam was killed Rocky was never the same. It was going to be a one way trip. If he failed to convince Tommy or defeat the Slayer, then he... was to set off a bomb implanted into his spine to take out both Tommy and the Slayer at the first opportunity."

"Why Tommy?"

"Because Tommy had the strongest connection to the Morphing Grid and knew how to get around Zedd's security in the moon palace because he was the one that set it up. Zedd's collection was meant as a precaution, should we ever lose our powers again we would still have a means to protect the world. Once she got the information she wanted out of him about the palace, the rest was easy. Using his connection to the Grid she tracked down Rangers and hunted us for sport."

"I can't believe that any version of Tommy would give up that kind of information so easily."

"He didn't have a choice..."

**o0o**

“Ugh. You call the man the wrong name in bed ONE time and it’s off to purge the fringe worlds,” she said, selecting one arrow from her quiver and setting it to the string. “I mean, I know I shouldn’t complain. It’s not like he really wanted to get rid of me.” She raised her bow and pulled back the string. “What do you think? If it were you and me, a bottle of fine wine and a sunset on the most perfect beach in any dimension… Would you honestly be mad if I called you the wrong name?”

She released her arrow, watching the split seconds between her and her target.

He screamed, or rather tried to scream around the gag jammed between his teeth.

“Oh you’d probably like it. Just to have a second chance.” She selected another arrow, and put it to the bowstring. “In some realities do you know what they called you?” She fired another. He tried and failed once again to scream. “ ** _The King of Second Chances_**.”

She scoffed and was about to select a third when the Yellow sentry approached. “Ma'am, we have reports from Boneyard Bay.”

She lowered her bow. “Really? After all this time?”

"Your instincts were correct. They did indeed use the device to transport across the anomaly. Our agent has located the Black Dino Ranger."

“Do you hear that, pet?” she said loudly, making sure the crippled man strapped to the target could hear her. “We finally found the last of your precious Dino children. Now Mesagog will have enough power to perfect his device and I will present it to my king as a gift. Perhaps he will add it to his arsenal and use it to wipe out entire populations so that we can establish new worlds. Better worlds.” He struggled - in so much as a paraplegic could struggle - against his bonds. She raised her bow once again, smiling.

"That's not all, ma'am," the sentry said as another arrow was sent flying. "The dimension in which they arrived has subtle differences from this one, and currently lacks one key detail."

"Spit it out before I get bored of you."

"Thomas Oliver is missing."

At this, she lowered her bow again. "For how long?"

"The best guess our agent has is approximately three months. The Rangers of his world do not know where or when he is. He has vanished into thin air, along with Kimberly Hart."

"Excellent... Do you hear that, pet? A perfect in with the right people. It worked so well with you... I'm sure everyone will be so relieved when poor Kimmy is found alive and tells them all about escaping the mean, horrible Ranger Slayer that is holding her precious Tommy captive," she said as she turned her attention back to the man held up as a target, all melodrama immediately erased from her tone. "Recharge the crystal and begin preparations for my departure at once."

"Should we ready the Grave Zord, ma'am?"

She considered the information a moment before smiling. "It's been a long time since I've had some fun... Have it on stand by." She slung her bow over her shoulder, snapping her fingers. From the shadows servants emerged with their scaled, reptilian faces turned towards the ground. "Cut him down and patch him up. I need my bait alive."


End file.
